Please take a few minutes to read about the event and why it's important...
"One Day Without Shoes 2010".
I understand that being a school administrator these days is a difficult job. You're not allowed to use common sense (having Advil is considered having drugs) and you have to follow so many silly rules. There are liability issues too, I'm sure. Jenny called me with great disappointment in her voice this morning saying that the school administrators were not allowing the kids to go barefoot at school today in support of this event. Kids caught barefoot would be given a referral and it would be put on their record. So I took Jenny some shoes.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if just once someone in charge took a stand and said, "Let's all take off our shoes!" followed by a dramatic flipping off of heels across the room? No, we must condition our forward-thinking children to be cattle and follow the herd. You mustn't break the rules, you mustn't question authority. It's just a frustrating example of the condition of our society. There isn't even any wiggle room for a negotiated happy medium such as going barefoot during class but wearing shoes while walking in between classes. Oy vay.
I'm still proud of my sweet Jenny for making a statement and attempting to raise awareness for something we all take for granted. Do you know that some of her peers were so derisive of her support that they brought two pairs of shoes to school today to counteract her statement? There is so much wrong with that I don't even know where to start.
I would have been tempted to wear my shoes tied around my neck. I am sure that the rules did not state WHERE the shoes must be worn... only that shoes MUST be worn. By wearing them tied around one's neck, I'd be making a statement that the administration is strangling us with rules. I'd also probably have taken the referral on my record and brought in the news cameras to add to the publicity 'for the cause'. "Student Gets Referral Slip in Support of 'One Day Without Shoes 2010'." I like the headline - Go Jenny !
ReplyDeleteAH! What the schools do to students nowadays,almost makes me want to home school. When I was 17 I was pregnant w/ Ethan. I do NOT promote teen pregnancy but once something is done, it can't really be undone. I had a hard time. I had to have a note from the school board AND the principal,saying I was allowed to PEE. I had to have both on me at all times. At schools here in Louisiana, school uniforms are enforced in ALL schools. I had to have a note saying I could wear maternity clothes and did NOT have to tuck my shirt in and wear a belt. (maternity jeans,tucked in shirt? NO WAY!) I had to have a note allowing me to CARRY bottled water. I had to have a note allowing me to got to OB appointments. I had to have notes for everything. I was given the choice to ride the elevator for class but decided to keep one NORMAL thing in my life,and climbed 3 flights of stairs 3 times a day,for class. I went to the last day of school. I NEVER missed a day. After appointments I'd go back to school. If I was sick, I went to school anyways. I was asked,the week before graduation,not to walk with my class. They said,"It wouldn't be helpful to reward a pregnant mother like that." But they allowed the head cheerleader (who was also pregnant) to walk AND name her amongst the "rewarded".
ReplyDeleteSo I feel your pain. I feel Jenny's! Good for her for sticking up for herself. For being who SHE is and not who other's think she should be! Kudos to you and your husband for raising a child that makes others proud of her (and for you!) :)